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Having stayed in another Villa for the last 5 or 6 visits, we decided to find one that had a few extra's, this one looked ideal. Unfortunately we feel very let down.I will start with the facts, then share my own opinion afterwards, that way you can decide for yourself whether the the shortfalls are important to you:Although the Holiday Lettings website did not list this villa as having a dishwasher, others I had looked at did, therefore I fully expected to find a dishwasher, there wasn't one.The information sent on booking states a safe is available in room next to washing machine, that room was locked, no key, therefore no safe.The site describes the TV, music systems etc, sadly it doesn't work well, if at all.The lighting is not as described, some bulbs out, both in and out side the villa.The pool is very deep - from, I would guess 4' 6" in the 'shallow end' to about 5' the other. The marble surround is very slippery when wet, a tile on hot tub was lose and potentially dangerous (since fixed by pool man)The 'hot tub' heater did not work, nor did the pool seem very warm.The outside seating area is ideal, but gets very wet in the rain, as water pours off roof.The sun beds in the garden - some were broken. Although there was a hole for 'sun umbrella' there was no umbrella, so no shade in that area.The air conditioning consists of one unit at the front of villa, not very effective.The linen - outside towel just the size of small bath towel (not bath sheet), the bed linen barely covered the mattress.The crockery - most plates were chipped, there were no decent outside plastic 'glasses' just beakers.The whole place is crawling with ants.Health and Safety - there is absolutely no escape from the back (main) bedroom (or other rooms come to that) in case of fire, no obvious fire extinguisher / smoke alarm. The window in the back main bedroom is opaque and opens direct onto an alley way so cannot really be opened, therefore absolutely no view to outside.Whilst outside of the control of owner there were several dogs barking / howling very close by, on most days.Now for my opinion: we wanted secluded, but this felt very enclosed, no views of surrounding mountains, outside of the villa not very inviting, narrow alleys, derelict villa's surround the villa.There is no welcome pack at all, no water / milk, and as we arrived on a Sunday this made things difficult, luckily we had taken some bits with us but had to walk into main town (about 15 minutes if you cut across waste land by turning right outside gate, then right down first alley, then right onto wasteland).If you go here I would recommend taking / getting some plastic 'glasses', we went out and bought some so could have a drink around the pool. There is a small but adequate supermarket to the left if you head back to main road. The security gates that are meant to be closed were open the whole week. The description state suitable for disabled access - I would disagree.So to summarise my opinion is that this was a total let down, over priced and I feel cheated!I did email the owner but got no response.

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Liked best:Apart from ants, it was clean

Liked least:Too much to list here

Travelling group:Spouse/Partner

Would you recommend this hotel to a friend?
No.

Did the property offer wi-fi/internet access?

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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC

Management Response

11 Nov 2015

I'm the new villa manager for this property and am disappointed you didn't enjoy your stay. I can assure though that of all the villas i manage, this is now one of the best. Looking into your communication with the owner, I cannot find any message from a guest regarding a dishwasher. I also cannot even find for that matter a booking in your name coming from the holiday lettings website? The only reason I ask is if you booked via a 3rd party, perhaps they don't have the correct information to pass onto guests and I'd like to correct that if this is the case.

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC

Stayed same week in September 2014 and enjoyed it so much we decided to go back! But how things change in a year.

I was disappointed to read recent reviews but sometimes find some reviewers are too picky. Yes you have to pass the washing machine and drier to get to the master bedroom but it is not a deal breaker. The property needs some TLC both externally and internally. Some of the issues inside the property were : bathrooms in need of tidying up (new sealant, grouting), shower rail in 2nd bathroom needs fixing, curtain rails in main and 3rd room need sorting and sagging bed in 2nd bedroom, New settees wouldn't go amiss either! There was nothing major and they didn't spoil our holiday as the weather was hot and the pool was lovely.

The pool is badly in need of some attention and, according to the pool man, this is due to be done in November.

Playa Blanca centre is only a 15 minute easy walk.

Travelling group:Extended Family

Would you recommend this hotel to a friend?
No.

Recommended for:

Friends getaway

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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC

I have just stayed at this villa and it is not a luxury villa, I have stayed in many villas over the years and this one I was hoping to be wit especial but I was disappointed with the villa. On arrival there was no one to great our party in fact we didn't see anyone until the pool man came 3/4 into our holiday. There was a folder located in the living area with brief information in it. There was no information on the nearest supermarket which was poor as there was not even have a bottle of water in the fridge for us on our arrival. We had to drive around the town and luckily a kind local man showed us the way to the supermarket. The villa is described a having air conditioning but there is only 1 air con unit which is located in a study room off the living area, there is no air con in any other rooms. There are ants all through the kitchen, you can't make any food up on the kitchen tops it all has to be done on plates. The ants are also in the cupboards so it's best to keep all food in the fridge. The main bathroom and 2nd and 3rd bedroom have ants too. The window of the master bedroom opens onto an alleyway so you can't have the window opened as anyone walking past can see into the bedroom.The outside area is nice although the seats to the outdoor dining area are really grubby. The pool is a mess, the paint on the bottom of the pool is chipping off and is sharp on your feet if you catch a pieces kicking up in the pool. The pool has marble all around the edge of it which is deadly when it gets wet, luckily no one in my party hurt themselves although there was quite a few slips. The villa is secluded, the villa next to it is disused and has been vandalised, we didn't have any problems though due to this.The villa is also described as having a parking area, there is parking but it is not on the villa premises it is at the end of a street and you have to walk down a path to the villa, which is a struggle if you have a lot of shopping to take in.The town of Playa. Blanca is only a 10 minute walk, if you go to the back of the villa there is some waste ground that you can walk down to town, the town is very nice and has a number of shops and restaurants, Playa. Dorada beach is beautiful and you can do a number of water sports on this beach.To sum up, Playa. Blanca is a lovely holiday destination but I would not return to this villa.

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Travelling group:Other

Your age range35-49

Would you recommend this hotel to a friend?
No.

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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC

This is a fantastic villa with everything you could possibly need. We have not gave a perfect score however as there are a couple flaws that can be easily addressed. The location was as instructed and we found quite easily even though we thought the security gate would be locked as stated we found that it was never closed throughout our stay. Gaining access to patio doors not easy as lock is tricky. The security camera trained on patio doors unnerved us at first thinking that security must be an issue but this is not the case safety is not an issue but camera added to feeling of safety and can be switched off if you require. Our biggest issue here was Mosquitos and if you are susceptible to bites good sprays are required we spent a few sleepless night with bites and odd one buzzing us at night. we were fortunate as sprays had been left for use. we may just have been unlucky in the timing of our visit. The pool area needs a little TLC. The paint in the pool peeling and flakes catching your feet at certain parts of pool. The jacuzzi was slightly disappointing the button for bubbles Broken and water not as warm at night to be able to relax with a wine or two. There was no lighting for pool or jacuzzi and light in pool was detached from fixings. The tree next to pool although beautiful it kept shedding leaves and petals into pool and patio area which we cleaned constantly. Again this may be down to timing of our visit. Even when solar water heater broke down and we lost hot water and electricity the owner solved this issue quickly and an engineer was on site within the hour and although he had to spend the day fixing the problem it was done in a professional manner. This is a lovely villa and well worth a stay although even with these small flaws if addressed this villa would get a perfect score

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Yes.

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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC

I wrote a review about this villa in March another guest also wrote a review after me also not so good what is the point when the owner presumably can remove them ?

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Would you recommend this hotel to a friend?
No.

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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC

Management Response

21 Nov 2015

I'm the new villa manager and look after a number of villas for a few owners on this site. I can assure you that there is no way of removing reviews from this site. Sorry you didn't have a good time back in March, if you return I can assure you that this villa is definitely now one of the best in Playa Blanca :)

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC

The outside area and the fab photos on the site will encourage you to book this villa. Unfortunately I have to agree with a lot of the comments on the last review. The garden area is large, plenty of sun loungers, the pool is a good size but too deep, especially for those with younger children as no shallow end, plus steep steps for accessing the pool. It would also look better if pool toys and cleaning equipment could be stored out of sight, perhaps in a storage box as there is plenty of space for one. Did not like the main bedroom, strange going through utility area to enter it, plus the fact that the window opens on the alley behind the villa made us reluctant to open bedroom window to air the room, good shower though in ensuite. Really think the owner could do with upgrading curtains in all bedrooms, ideally to those with black out linings. I actually thought it was a shower curtain hanging at the 3rd bedroom window, though closer inspection revealed it wasn't, and the curtain didn't cover the width of window, so no lie-ins for parents with children sleeping in this room as they'd be awake as soon as sun rose.There is nothing the owner can do about the adjoining villa being abandoned and by the looks of it being occupied by homeless people, (we went for a nosy seeing as the patio door had been removed and were shocked to see mattresses on the floor), it was a little disconcerting. Having said that the the walls on the villa are high with a locked entrance gate and provide great privacy.The owner had provided lots of equipment so you can watch british tv, follow the instructions and it is available. Great music system, allowing you to play music on external speakers whilst in garden area and fab wifi connection.In the welcome book the owner suggests guests leaving items for other guests to use and we agree with that. A welcome pack of cleaning goods would have ideal such as washing up liquid and cleaning sponge/cloth but there was nothing left. On our departure we have left washing up liquid, sponges, washing machine liquid and conditioner, insect spray, these were all items we purchased for use during our stay but couldn't possibly use up before departure so hopefully the next guests will be able to use them. Ian has a good support team over there, Laura came round promptly when we mentioned a problem to her and she also arranged for a very prompt visit from the maintenance man when we couldn't get the jacuzzi to work.The villa is roughly a ten minute walk in to town if you use the short cut going along the alley at the side of the villa, you're walking over a rough path but it's a lot quicker than using the main paths and roads from the villa. If you have a car then there is a free car park just as you drive in to Playa Blanca and a short walk from there to the shops, restaurants and seafront. The weather was unseasonably cold the first few days when we were there, luckily there was a radiator we could plug in in the bedroom, couldn't find any heating for the main living area. Later on in the week we spotted an air conditioning unit in the small office but no units elsewhere in the villa so not sure if we had activated that whether it would have heated the main living area? We really enjoyed Playa Blanca and our holiday but would look for a better location if we were to holiday here again.

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My partner and I have rented many villas in playa blanca over the last 4 years this one was not one of the better ones firstly we did not like the area or the estate it was on its a bit like a rabbit warren lots of alley ways / passage ways walking round I would think about 30% of the villas are derelict/empty including the attached villa next door it had mattress on bedroom floor but nothing caused us any problems we always left both TVs on and lots of lights when we went out at night on arrival the entrance gate was broken off one hinge but a call to the maintenance Man and it was fixed so that we were able to lock it we have never had to walk through a utility room to get to the master bedroom and I did not like the fact that the bedroom window was on the alley way behind when people walked by late at night talking it woke us up also never had only 1 door/entrance to a property before with a cc tv camera on them mmmmmm personally I don't want to see mops/buckets dustpans and kids inflatables all on display they could either go in the small office or be put away in a storage unit for people to get out if they want them now were not thick but 6 different remotes to operate the tv "system" is a bit to much but the wifi did work very well the pool was always nice and warm although the steps in are very steep difficult for little ones I would think also the paint is coming of the bottom in places there are only 2 proper wine glasses in the unit but plenty of everything else kitchen wise Laura the villa manager was lovely and does a very good job with what she has but for the money you

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Would you recommend this hotel to a friend?
No.

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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC